Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

206
Gnè firionn falbh. The males nature is to move.
The man to go abroad, the woman to stay at home.
Guothach duine gun cheill, 'dol gu feill gun airgiod.
A fool's errand, going to market without monq/.
Gnothaicliean mora fo thuinn.
Gi^eat things under the ivaves.
Said of those who boast of things they neither have nor can havfe
Gob a' dialmain-chàthaidh, bidli tu slàn mu'm pòs thii.
Beak of the moulting dove, you'll he ivell before you marry.
The word ' cahnan-càthaidh' is not in any of the dictionaries,
except A. M'Donakl's Vocabnlary, where it is rendered 'Hoop'.
The saying is applied to sick children.
Goirteas a chinn f hein a dh' f hairicheas a' h-uile fear.
Every onan feels his own headache.
'S 1 a chneacih fèin is Inaithe mhothiugheas gach duine — A
ftmn feels his ovm hurt soonest. — Ir.
Gramachadli bàrr òrdaig. Holding hy a thumh-top.
Greadan feasgair, 's cead dol dachaidh.
Evening spurt, and leave to go home.
Greim cruaidh aig curaidh. A champion's hard grip.
Greim cùbair. A cooper s grip.
A firm hold.
Greim fad' an tàilleir leisg. The lazy tailor's long stitch.
Al. Greim fa<la, 's grad 'l)hi ulhimh — Long stitch, and soon done.
Snaitlie fada an taillear fhallsa. — Ir.
Costurera mala, la hebra de a braza — Bad seamstress' thread, a
fathom long. — Span.
Greis mu seach, an t-each air miiin a' mharcaiche.
Time ahoiit, the horse on the hack of the rider.
Gu dòmliail doimh, mar a bliios màthair fhir-an-
tighe, 'an solus na cloinne, no 'n rathad nan ian.
Croioding, cumbersome, like the goodman's mother, in
the children's light, or in the way of the fowls.
Gu dona dubh, mar a bha cas Aoidh.
Bad and black, as Hugh's foot u-as.
Hugh was on a visit to the laird of Coll, and ^"ot his foot acci-
dentally wounded. He was so well taken care of that he was in
no hiirry to get out of hospital, and continued to describe the
state of his foot as 'bad and black'.
Gu h-olc innte, 's gu h-olc uimpe.
Bad within, and badly clad.